Desperate for answers, mom faces killer

STOCKTON - For years, Joan Shelly doubted that she'd ever find the remains of her daughter, Joann Hobson, and bring them home to rest.

Scott Smith

STOCKTON - For years, Joan Shelly doubted that she'd ever find the remains of her daughter, Joann Hobson, and bring them home to rest.

It had been 26 years since the buoyant 16-year-old left her east Stockton home for a date one night and never returned. Shelly knew her daughter was dead.

But her long-held doubts of recovery didn't deter Shelly from confronting death row inmate Wesley Shermantine in person. She repeatedly went to San Quentin State Prison and stepped into a cage to visit with the convicted killer.

Shelly, 65, said she couldn't die without first getting some answers. She buried her fears and judgment of the convicted serial killer to make repeated visits to Shermantine. She had one goal.

"I was there for my child," Shelly said. "I went up there to talk to Wesley and treat him as a human being and with respect. And that's exactly what he gave back to me."

Authorities now say that Hobson's remains were among 1,000 bone fragments pulled in February from a Linden well. With her were the remains of Kimberly Billy and a third, still-unidentified person.

Shelly talked publicly Tuesday for the first time since the officials confirmed that her daughter's remains were finally recovered.

Surrounded by family, Shelly gave an emotional account of the years since she last saw her daughter alive and well.

Shelly reported Hobson missing Sept. 10, 1985. She told the responding deputies that her daughter had last been seen 12 days before.

Hobson often left home for days at a time, Shelly told investigators. But this time Shelly became alarmed.

Investigators long ago told Shelly and her surviving daughter, Michelle Loftis, that they suspected Hobson had fallen prey to Shermantine and his boyhood friend from Linden, Loren Herzog.

The pair was never convicted in Hobson's disappearance. Shermantine sits on death row, convicted of four murders. Herzog had been on parole for manslaughter when he took his life. They are suspected in up to 20 homicides.

Other suspected victims of the duo lived in the same east Stockton neighborhood, off Del Mar Avenue, and socialized in the same park.

Those other victims were Chevelle "Chevy" Wheeler and Robin Armtrout.

Most recently, Shermantine's tips from death row have led investigators since the beginning of the year to five sets of remains.

Shelly's most recent visit came in February, after officials had found Cyndi Vanderheiden and Wheeler's remains in remote Calaveras County.

"All the times we talked, I urged him - please, tell us where Joann is," Shelly recalled. "We need to know."

Loftis, Shelly's oldest daughter, commended her mother for her courage in meeting with Shermantine.

"My mom has more strength than anybody I know," Loftis said.

Once authorities turn over Hobson's remains, they'll have them cremated and hold a memorial ceremony. Shelly will take them home with her to Manteca, where she now lives.

Loftis, 45, said she and her mom aren't done encouraging Shermantine to give up his secrets. Loftis publicly urged the prisoner to continue working with law enforcement to identify the burial places of other victims.

Loftis and Shelly said they didn't wish to speculate about who was the real killer - Shermantine or Herzog. They just want answers for more families.

"They, too, deserve to know where their loved one is," Loftis said, next addressing those families. "We do know the heartache you are going through."